Even though there is mandatory attendance, there is not mandatory buy-in. Schools may have their body, but not their mind. Students have free will and many are incredibly shortsighted. They should eat right, do homework, drive responsibly and not hang with the “wrong” kids.

Each day they should rush to school and sit all twitterpated to hear what words of wisdom the teacher has to say. My father said, “The military cannot make someone do something, but it can make that person sorry they did not.” That is the philosophy of the stick. And it works some of the time.

However, it does not work with those students who, when told that if they do not graduate they will end up living under a bridge. They usually roll their eyes and say, “Oh, well.” For those students that stick is just a waste of time. At least a third of high school students do not graduate from a free public school education. What do we want? We want the students to enthusiastically embrace education and apply themselves to it, and graduate. So why not cut to the chase and use a carrot? Charlie Munger in Poor Charlie’s Almanac wrote, “When you do not get what you want, check the incentives that you are using.”

These students who do not come to school can learn all of the words to a hundred rap songs with ease. They learn elaborate skateboard tricks. Many are multi-talented in art and music. Why? Because the reward **THEY** want is within their control.

The secret to getting what we want them to do is to use a carrot they want. What do they want that we can ethically provide? Cars rate high on the student “cool” meter. What if at graduation a new car is given away by a drawing? The keys are given right then to a graduate. That would get their attention. Read full column

From KOB-TV.com - By: Caleb James and Elizabeth Reed, KOB Eyewitness News 4 A serious legal battle is brewing in the Republican primary race for one of New Mexico's U.S. senate seats, and it's pitting members of the same party against each other. David Clements and Allen Weh are both Republicans fighting for their party's nomination to challenge Democrat Tom Udall for his seat in the senate. But on a website called BernalilloCoverup.com, Clements accuses Weh's campaign manager of hacking Clements' campaign email account. A lawyer for Weh's campaign manager, Diego Espinoza, confirmed he will file a defamation lawsuit against Clements before the end of the week. He sent us a statement that reads: "David Clement's accusations are absurd. His intentions were clearly to disparage Diego Espinoza to benefit his struggling campaign. Diego denies every accusation leveled at him and Mr. Clements will be held accountable for his publicity stunt in court." On Thursday morning, Clements' campaign released a statement in response to the possible defamation lawsuit: "It is astounding to watch Allen Weh sacrifice his own campaign manager in hopes of driving the story away from the fact that he underperformed and underwhelmed Republican delegates at Saturday's pre-primary convention. Announcing a lawsuit, via press release, before the case has even been filed is a clear indication that Allen Weh and Diego Espinoza's case is nothing but a publicity stunt. Nonetheless, we look forward to setting a trial date immediately, as truth is an absolute defense to the claim of defamation." More